This gently grizzled singer-songwriter seems to wear his passions comfortably, like a favorite shirt he makes appropriate anywhere, anytime because the fabric suits him and he couldn’t care less how anyone else is dressed. The material is earth-toned vibrant and cloaks an impressive brawn of philosophical observations about life and an endearing sensitivity for its simple wonders. There are worn spots at the elbows from the hale and hearty ribbing of friends and the pointed poking of fools. A few patches are made of durable irony, as is evident in "Privileged Class" from his 1985 album THIRD AND LONG: "Hey, little waitress, though I know the place is full, you're my own personal servant for this coffee and this roll." There are a few threads pulled here and there from pointed unstitching of political and social egoism, as in "If I Spoke English," written, he tells us, in the "spring of 1973 at the time of the Wounded Knee reclamation": "If I spoke English I would give you new ways in which to see."
The title of this album derives, Miller comments in terse descriptions of its 13 cuts, from "a situation in a football game much like the current world situation, or a midlife crisis." His craggy, warm vocals call to mind the expressive timbre of the traditional storyteller and the rugged romantic ("Walking through the snowfall, wish I had the wherewithal to answer the coyote's call"), tempered by a pointed wit and an ironic streak as broad as the range of interests he touches on. From nature to personal issues to spiritual symbolism (Upon his faithless burro / Penetrating chiaroscuro / The rebel priest is here always, Always"), Miller treasures the clarity of a discerning perspective few of us develop fully. If he's been a man on a quest to find himself at midlife, the images he's sent back from far afield within himself urge us to look beyond our own microcosm to "see creation in a pine cone."
Miller's Dylanesque turns of phrase are strongly evident in his 1995 release, AMOS: "And the doors close and a cold wind blows and the reverend howdy doody glows jackals grin and let the followers in and the holy siege will soon begin . . . . He delights in sending you fishing with a stream of consciousness line, then reeling you in with a declaration of conscience like "but they never do learn and it's not to be forgiven to kill a spirit before it really starts living" in "I'll Take Care of It" or with the impish humor of "The Perfect Place to --": "Yes some of us and possibly all could truly benefit from the piece of mind we'd truly find with a dear place to emit . . ." You work out the rhyme };->
Quite a character, this wry cogitator who relates in "Talkin' Endorphins Cocaine of the 90's Blues" the epiphany he experienced on a short-lived journey toward physical fitness: "I wouldn't be expecting to live forever 'cause making your own drugs just ain't that clever." Wise man. I bet he knows the inestimable value of cat naps throughout the day too :-)
In addition to his distinctive vocals and lyrics to ponder, Jim Miller plays some mighty fine guitar, fiddle, and harmonica in service to the variety of regional and ethnic folk music genres he weaves into his work.
CRICKET'S RATING: One of a kind, this Jim Miller
Come see in a new way for yourself. And while you're in that neck of our woods, order plenty of Jim's music. He'll make more!
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